Bitter Counterinsurgency
by Duana
Summary: Sequel to Best Served Cold and The Chill of Retribution. The war is over but Harry still has a fight on his hands, only this time - he can't just kill everyone that pisses him off. Won't make sense if you haven't read Best Served Cold... Slash, M/M.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

Present

"Mr Potter! Mr Potter! How do you feel now that your very unexpected boyfriend has been cleared?" was the first sentence Harry could make out from the hoard of shouting reporters.

"Pleased, naturally, but it was never a question of _if_ Draco would be cleared, merely of how long the process would take." Harry replied with his best photographic smile, or what Draco claimed was.

"Mr Potter! What are your thoughts on Minister Scrimgeour?" a tall black haired, ferocious looking woman called as she forced her way to the front of the crowd.

"Titil Lating, Daily Prophet." Malfoy whispered into his ear.

"Ms Lating, isn't it?" Harry smiled as she flushed at being recognised by The-Boy-Who-Lived, "As most of you will be aware, I have had several problems with the Ministry in the past, but Rufus and I are in the process of working through those together. I am helping him to build a better future for our community and to remove the taint of corruption from our Ministry. We will be working closely together over the coming months and from our interactions so far, I would say the future looks bright."

"Mr Potter! I was wondering if you would be willing to tell us how you fell for Mr Malfoy?"

"Ah, good question." Harry chuckled, "The easy answer would be he saved my life."

Harry paused as the women in the crowed oouh and awwed at such a romantic story.

"I always thought that he would join the other side, emulate Voldemort and spend many hours trying to kill me, just like every other Death Eater I have known. Turns out, he's a better man than I expected, instead of trying to kill me, he saved me. After that, I actually tried talking to him for once and I found that I liked the person who I had always thought of as my arrogant school rival." Harry chuckled fondly, " I'm proud to know him and call him friend, even more so to call him mine." he smiled as he turned to face Malfoy, not the fake one he wore for the camera but a true one that danced in his eyes.

"Mr Potter! Mr Potter!"

Grimmauld Place looked nothing like it had when Harry had first visited.

Now that he owned the old House of Black, he had organised having it cleaned up. Dobby, Winky and Kreacher had been working like... well, house elves for the past month and the results were amazing.

For the first time ever, Harry thought that the house felt welcoming, warm.

The décor hadn't been changed, only repainted to look as the house would have, back in it's glory days. If this was any example, it truly had been glorious and not the pit of darkness and evil he had imagined.

He had seen Voldemort's idea of décor after all and it had been nothing like this. If Voldemort was any standard to judge by, evil preferred stone walls, chains and blood splatters.

Here, beneath all the dust, dirt and cobwebs, the elves had found crystal chandeliers, rare wood panelling and furniture, tapestries that had been grey were bright once more and more gold, silver and other precious metals than should have been possible.

With everything cleaned, polished and the furniture reupholstered, the house was elegant, tasteful and screamed wealth. The Black's had been at the hight of upper class society once, before inbreeding led to several cases of insanity, now the house looked it again.

He stumbled out of the fire and Malfoy caught his arm before he could hit the floor.

"Thanks." Harry grinned as he stole a kiss, "You going back to the Manor now?"

"Yes, I had better. Mother will be waiting for me." Malfoy smiled back as he leant into the embrace.

"Not to mention your Father. He will want to make sure I haven't killed you." Harry grinned back and kissed his way up Malfoy's neck. It was almost a running joke between Harry and Malfoy now, how much Lucius Malfoy distrusted Harry.

"If you keep doing that, I'll be able to prove just how alive I am." Malfoy leered as he skipped out of Harry's arms before darting forward for one last kiss and jumping into the fire.

Harry sighed, part in relief, part in disappointment.

Relief that the day was over and Malfoy had finally been fully cleared, disappointment that Malfoy had left.

He flopped into a chair in the library after walking through the rejuvenated building and sipped at a glass of cognac, his mind racing over the past month since Voldemort's death.

Past

"You've done it now, Tommy boy!" Harry called as his blood spilt to the floor.

Runes on the floor sparked into life as his blood activated them.

"Did you think I sat playing with Wormtail's blood for fun?" Harry laughed manically. "I had hoped not to need the runes but..." Harry shrugged as Voldemort fired curse after curse at him, "beggars can't be choosers."

The last rune glowed and started a chain of explosions to erupt through the house. Fiendfyre flared into existence around the room and quickly spread, trapping Voldemort and Harry in his golden shield.

Voldemort's scream as he was engulfed made Harry ears hurt, his body disintegrated instantly but the wailing scream lingered for long moments after.

Harry only had to wait minutes for the house to be burnt to ash.

He could see the Order of the Phoenix surrounding the house, most likely alerted by Snape.

Dumbledore stood looking at him, mouth agape, his expression mirrored by the others watching.

"It's over. He's gone." his knees suddenly gave out beneath him and he crumpled to the floor as his magical drain caught up with him.

Snape darted forward, everyone else still too shocked to move, and helped him to stand.

He looked back at the ruined patch of ground.

"I always thought I would die with him." Harry said after a long pause.

His voice seemed to galvanise the others into movement. Dumbledore quickly stepped over to the burnt remains of the house and looked around where Harry had been standing.

Blue spell light washed out of his wand and gently fizzled away.

Several member of the Order of the Phoenix clapped him on the back or shook hands with him but Harry couldn't hear a thing as magical exhaustion swept over him.

Strong arms caught him before he hit the floor this time and black robes enveloped him, the mixed scent of various potions alerted him to the fact that it was Snape holding him.

Safe in the knowledge that one of the few people he trusted was protecting him, Harry blacked out.

Bright.

That was the first thought that flickered through Harry's mind as he regained consciousness.

As his eyes blinked open, the ceiling of the school Hospital Wing greeted him.

Was he cursed to wake up here at least once a year or something?

"Potter. It's about time you woke up." a snide voice said next to him.

"Sorry, it's a little tiring, killing Dark Lords." Harry said deadpan as he turned to smile at the owner of the acerbic voice.

Snape snorted in amusement as he passed Harry several vials.

"Blood Replenishing Potion, Nutrient Potion, Calming Draught, Cough Potion, Invigoration Draught and Strengthening Solution."

"Guess I've been here for a few days then." Harry grimaced as he started swallowing potions. "Wouldn't need a Nutrient Potion other wise. I lost some blood, must have been a lot to still be on Replenishers and I breathed in some smoke right? What are the other three for?"

Harry honestly didn't care what they were for, if Snape gave them to him, he needed them, but he did want something to distract him from the awful tastes.

"When used in conjunction they aid in the recovery of a wizards magical core." Snape sighed with a tone in his voice that asked 'Why am I surrounded by dunderheads who should already know this?'.

"Huh, right. How long was I out? What did I miss?" Harry grinned as the thought that Voldemort was really dead sunk in.

He had known Voldemort was gone but he was only now starting to believe it. He simply hadn't had time between killing him and collapsing to absorb the knowledge.

Snape looked far too relaxed for Voldemort to have managed to survive.

"Roll on to your side." Snape replied as he reached for a jar. He continued once Harry had done as instructed, pulling his gown aside to look at the wound he could still feel, "Four days, this time. Burn-Healing Paste."

Harry sighed as he felt the paste instantly start to work on pains he hadn't noticed until that moment.

He was a little surprised by Snape, he was being far more... pleasant than usual. He was offering names for each potion and the finger currently spreading paste across his back were soft and gentle.

"Are you a pod person?" Harry grinned as Snape pushed at him to roll fully onto his front and the memory of a film he had once seen while weeding the front borders of Privet Drive flickered through his mind.

"A what?" Snape sneered at him, a small frown of confusion creasing his forehead.

"Never mind. Muggle thing. So, what did I miss?" Harry's voice turned slightly suspicious as he realised Snape had neatly avoided that part of his question before.

"I want your word not to leave this bed before I say Potter, or I shall stun you." Harry blinked at the wand suddenly pointed between his eyes.

He glared up at Snape as he knocked the wand away. Something must have happened, Snape wouldn't normally react anything like that. What though?

"There is nothing to be done at this moment, Potter. You wouldn't make it out of the doors before Madam Pomfrey chased you down and knocked you out." Harry blinked at the almost gentle tone in Snape's voice, "Draco has been arrested by the Ministry, for bearing the Dark Mark upon his arm. Scrimgeour has taken care to ensure he is well looked after though."

"Malfoy has been arrested? Shit. Why would Scrimgeour care?" Harry asked as his mind started working on the problem, he needed to get Malfoy free.

Unfortunately, he couldn't just kill everybody this time. It had been so much easier when he could just kill the people causing him the most problems.

That meant he would need to use politics of some sort and he really wasn't the political type, he preferred actions to words.

"Lie on your back so I may administer the rest of the Burn-Healing Paste." Snape gave him a flat look that brooked no dissent and Harry huffed but did as he was told. He needed information right now, he couldn't help Malfoy by haring off in the dark.

"Minister Scrimgeour," Snape sneered the name, "has apparently reached the conclusion that you are not a boy- man to be trifled with. Your defeat of The Dark Lord has already been well publicised, as I'm sure your ego would like to know, and the country is lauding you as their hero. Your... relationship with Draco is just as well known, which is to say nothing is known bar the fact of it. Scrimgeour hopes to keep you... appreciative by offering preferential treatment."

"Huh. Well, good. I guess. At least Malfoy's okay. I'm going to need to get out of here soon though. When can I leave?" he expected the same answer he usually received to that question, 'when Madam Pomfrey says', so he blinked in surprise when Snape did answer him.

"Once this last layer of Burn-Healing Paste has sunk in and you have showered. Until then, you may tell me how you managed to achieve the demise of The Dark Lord." Harry grinned at the way Snape made it sound like he was doing Harry a favour by listening.

"I can go after though?" Snape sneered at his one track mind.

"Yes, you may. Though I suspect Poppy will insist on you being chaperoned."

"Great. You can come with me." Harry grinned, Malfoy had told him only a few weeks ago that Snape was his Godfather and he thought he might like to see Malfoy for himself.

"Does your arrogance know no bounds? You presume I have no prior engagements." Snape glared down at him but the finger smoothing Burn-Healing Paste onto his chest never varied in their pressure.

"No, I presume you want to see your Godson and that since you are doing what Madam Pomfrey could do just as easily, that you had some time free to visit. I can easily find someone else to go with me." Harry snapped back just as acerbically.

Could this man never stop thinking the worst of him? What did he have to do to prove he wasn't his Father?

"I apologise. It is not outside the realm of possibility that your assumption is correct." Snape replied stiffly.

"Did that mean yes? You will go with me?" Harry grinned at the older man to show him forgiven.

"It is a conceivable option, should you answer my question."

"Can't you just talk straight for once? Do you do it on purpose to confuse me? Never mind." Harry mumbled the last as he saw the growing smirk on the Slytherin's face, he erected a silencing charm before he continued. "Runes. That's how. Do you remember that first time you saw me? I was sitting in Voldemort's audience room, playing with Wormt- Pettigrew's blood.

"He was so amused to see me doing it, he never considered looking at what I was drawing. I used Pettigrew's blood to draw the destructive runes I thought might come in handy one day and used my own later on, to draw the protective runes. I didn't actually think I would be able to kill old Voldemort with them, just take out a large Death Eater meeting or something. Burn the house down.

"Not too sure what I was thinking exactly at the time. I had just directly tortured and killed a man for the first time. I think I was a little hysterical to be honest, I know I couldn't stop laughing. I had originally planned just to use my own blood. I spent hours working out the right combination of runes to get what I wanted. Mid duel he slashed me open and my blood activated the runes. Not much more to say. Kind of anti-climatic, when you look at it from my angle."

"Killing The Dark Lord was anti-climatic?" Snape parroted scathingly.

"Well, yeah. For me. Not that I'm complaining. I expected this huge battle, probably at Hogwarts with me and Dumbledore stood side by side, fighting the legions of Darkness or some such while my friends and allies died around me... I didn't expect to get scratched and then stand around twiddling my thumbs as he burn to a crisp in Fiendfyre." Harry shrugged.

"I suppose, you think I know not whom it was decimating The Dark Lord's followers? I believe you did more than just 'twiddle your thumbs', Harry." Harry blinked at the use of his first name, "I also suppose I owe you thanks for sparing my life. With the ease you dispatched of-"

"You owe me jack shit. You've saved my life, I spared yours. We're even. I'm not having you resenting _me_ now. It was bad enough when it was my Father you owed." Harry jumped in, he knew he would be seeing more of the dour potions Master, despite school finishing in only a week, since he was dating Malfoy and he didn't need Snape to start acting like his original self once more or even possibly worse.

"Perhaps." Snape inclined his head in agreement but something in his tone made Harry think he didn't agree.

"Can we go yet?" Harry asked as he shrugged off his thoughts on Snape, he would deal with him after getting Malfoy out of the nick.

"Once you are showered we may." Snape waved him away and sat back in the chair, picking up a book.

"Did I ever say thank you, by the way? For saving my life?" a crooked grin met Snape's surprised gaze. "Guess not. Thank you for saving my life and for helping me... Severus."

Harry scurried out before Snape could respond. He could have used the shower in the Hospital Wing but he would need a change of clothes if he was going to the Ministry.

Clothes! Harry stopped short just before he pushed the Hospital Wing doors open, he was still wearing one of Madam Pomfrey's bed gowns.

He transfigured it into a full length robe so it covered his otherwise nude body and continued his trek to the Gryffindor Dormitory.

**tbc...**

**AN: Okay, I got that finished up quicker than I had expected lol.**

**I'll be posting every three or four days, all depending on the reviews. If I get lots of reviews I'll post quicker... *Looks hopeful***

**Regards,**

**Duana xxx**

**Sorry about the mix up! D x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

He spent the time while he was in the shower by thinking over what was about to happen.

He was about to go to the Ministry and speak to Scrimgeour. As always, Scrimgeour was going to try everything in his arsenal in his attempts to get Harry to be the Ministry mascot.

Scrimgeour had tried on a few other occasions but Harry had shot him down each time.

Today though, he was going to allow it but he wasn't going to just be a mascot. He was going to make some changes.

He dried and dressed in his smartest robes. He looked in the mirror and decided that they weren't good enough, not when he was trying to make an imposing impression.

He transfigured the robes and cloak floor length and coloured them jet black. Gold embroidery wound in a delicate pattern of vines around the hems and cuffs and the Potter and Black family crests wove on either breasts.

He hadn't expected, while taking his advanced private lessons, to use his training like this. He chuckled at the humour of his battle training being used to make pretty clothes.

He rolled his eyes as he realised his new outfit, when combined with his black trousers and black t-shirt, almost screamed 'Dark Lord'. It really was a fair imitation of a stylish Death Eater.

Well, at least it made him look a bit older than the seventeen years he really was.

Snape stood as he saw Harry and led the way to the fireplace without a word. His only reaction to Harry's robes a quick glance over him and a slight smirk that, for a change, wasn't of mockery. It looked more like Snape was smirking in anticipation, like he was expecting Harry to put Scrimgeour in his place.

Harry grinned, it wasn't often that most adults showed that kind of trust in him. They seemed to think he was still a young untried boy. It was aggravating. This was... great. He didn't think many people had received that look from Snape.

The fireplace flared into green flames just before he could throw his floo powder in.

"Harry! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere! I went to visit you in the Hospital Wing but Madam Pomfrey said you had left. How could you leave without letting me know?" Hermione's voice screeched through the fire as Snape took a hasty step back, out of sight of the fire and the bushy head in it.

"I don't have time now, Hermione." Harry replied briskly and waved his wand at the fire with a Finite, ending the floo call and watched with a smirk as her surprised face disappeared.

Harry gestured to the fire with a small bow to Snape and followed him a second later.

He would need to remove Hermione and Ron from his life permanently, he didn't need back stabbing best friends who liked to report his movements to old men with superiority and control issues.

How to do it without killing them though?

"Good morning, Minister Scrimgeour."

"Good morning, Harry. Would you like to sit down?"

"I would like to talk about Draco Malfoy."

"Ah, yes. Terrible business, a friend of yours wearing He Who Must Not Be Named's Dark Mark on his arm."

"Draco Malfoy was not a Death Eater. He has been a spy for me since the very beginning." it wasn't technically a lie. Malfoy had let enough slip or be overheard through the years that he may as well have been reporting to him.

"Naturally. Although, I'm sad to say it may not change the minds of the Wizengamot."

"All right. Let's skip the pointless argument. You want something. What?"

"Simple. Same as always. You as our mascot. The people need the boost you give them." Harry considered cutting in but decided to wait and let Scrimgeour dig himself a hole he wouldn't be able to climb out of. "You may have killed He Who Must Not Be Named but there are still lots of problems with our world! You need to give them hope, make them think we are doing everything we can!"

"And in return? I won't do this as a duty. I've done mine already. I face Voldemort seven times, the first time as only a baby, and I killed him on the last. I lost my parents, my Godfather, my friends and my childhood. My duty is done. What do I get in return?"

"I'll have Draco Malfoy's trial rushed through and him pardoned. He will remain in your custody while awaiting trial it won't be any more than a couple of months."

"One month and if I'm to be your mascot," Harry almost spat the word in disgust, "I won't be a fake one. There are problems within the Ministry, the only way to get my support is, if they are sorted to my standards."

"You want to clean up the Ministry? Fine, I'll put you on the books as a Ministry Consultant, get you an office and a secretary. You will sort out the Ministry while I deal with the fall out of He Who Must Not Be Named's brief reign. There is a lot of damage to be fixed still and many people homeless, jobless, missing relatives – from both sides. The muggles need sorting out... the list is endless. Life was much simpler as just an Auror."

"Fine. I'll take Draco Malfoy back with me now." Harry smirked as he closed the office door behind him, but out of sight from his Auror guard, and walked down to towards the holding cells when the Auror directed him.

"Potter!" Malfoy cried as he caught sight of him.

Snape was sat on chair on the outside of the bars that made one wall of Malfoy's cell. Malfoy looked tired but fine. His cell was only small but it held two blankets instead of the usual one, quill and parchment and even a couple of books.

It wasn't the Ritz but it was a step up from the other cells he had passed by.

"Alohomora. Come on. Were leaving." Harry smirked as he watched Malfoy's mouth drop open for a second as he looked from Harry, to his wand, to the door and back.

Malfoy blinked slowly before jumping up and strolling casually through the door, like he was released from Ministry detention by his school rival everyday.

"About time. The meals here are ghastly! If I become ill from my stay, I won't hesitate to sue. It can't be healthy either, being cooped up in such a small space! They didn't even have the courtesy to give me a change of clothing! Not that anything they would have chosen would be fine enough." Harry just grinned as he listened to Draco grumble with his finest haughty pure-blood tone and told him and Snape that they would floo to Grimmauld Place.

"How, precisely did you manage to achieve Draco's release?" Snape asked as they stepped out of the fire place and into Grimmauld Place.

"I convinced Scrimgeour that I should be taken on by the Ministry to clean it up. In payment for doing them that _service_ I get Malfoy in my custody until his trial where he _will_ be pardoned. I also get to clean up and reorganise the Ministry as _I_ _see fit_." Harry smirked as he poured drinks from the wet bar, sarcasm dripping from the word 'service'.

He passed the out the drinks, before sitting in one of the armchairs. Malfoy sat half on the arm, half on Harry and looked like he didn't plan on ever moving.

Harry wasn't too sure how things had got to this stage with Malfoy. The snuggling stage. But then, the handful of other relationships he'd had were just about the sex. There had been no emotions involved.

Harry hadn't really realised they were here. But he supposed he did care for Malfoy. He wanted to protect Malfoy, make him happy and he definitely wanted to fuck him. But he wasn't sure how to feel about snuggling like this, he hadn't done it before.

"The Ministry is paying you to take over?" Malfoy sneered in disbelief and Harry couldn't blame him.

"With my own office and secretary." Harry's smirk grew as he pushed his thoughts about snuggling away.

"Not bad, Potter." Malfoy smirked in return, before glancing around. "What is this place? You said Grimmauld Place but that is the House of Black. This place is filthy! A pure-blood House does not look like this!"

"Welcome to The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Not quite cleaned up yet but Kreacher is working on it." Harry shrugged in slight embarrassment.

"Unbelievable as it may seem, this is an improvement." Snape sneered happily from the side of the fireplace.

"Don't worry, Malfoy. I'll ask Dobby and Winky to come and work for me. They'll soon get in here cleaned up." Harry grinned as he flopped back onto the sofa.

"Harry! My dear boy!" Albus Dumbledore called cheerfully across the atrium of the Ministry.

"Headmaster." Harry smiled as politely as he could.

Harry had released Malfoy from the Ministry holding cells six days ago and Dumbledore had made several small noises so far about Harry straying from the Light and Malfoy's bad influence.

"May I have a word with you, my boy?" Dumbledore twinkled merrily at him from behind his half moon spectacles.

"Of course. Would you like to step into my office? It's only a few floors up, close to Scrimgeour's." Harry continued to smile even as he wanted to grind his teeth.

He had wanted to speak to Dumbledore for the last few days about the rumours he had been spreading and his suspicion that Dumbledore had arranged Malfoy's arrest, but did he have to now? Just as he was going home?

"I'm dreadfully worried for you, Harry." Dumbledore started as the office door closed with a flick from Harry's wand.

"May I ask why?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"You are losing your way, Harry. The path of Light is a harder one to walk than that of the Dark but you must persevere! So much hope would be lost should you step aside." Dumbledore sounded truly mournful, like he actually believed himself.

"Yes, it would be bad if I went Dark. That is why I plan on staying with the Light." Harry said slowly with honest confusion at Dumbledore's claim that he was going Dark.

He may had used Dark magic, killed quite a few people and done other things that might make him seem Dark but no one knew about them and he really had no plans to turn Dark and evil. He didn't want to kill innocents or children or even just people who disagreed with him. He had killed enough.

He wanted to live a world _not _run by insane Dark wizards and an inept Ministry.

"I wish it were so easy, Harry, but you must remember that you have already used Dark magic and it's lure is strong." Dumbledore shook his head as he steepled his fingers.

"Yes, I was trained in Dark magic on _your_ orders. Now you want to condemn me for the training you gave me?" Harry laughed in disbelief as he sat back in his chair. "Why?"

"My boy, you must be able to see what concerns me so much? You destroyed Voldemort on your own, with magics that should have been beyond you, Dark magics. You have left your friends behind for Draco Malfoy, a Marked Death Eater, you freely associate with Professor Snape, he is a good man but still a Dark one." Harry watched with amazement as Dumbledore slowly appeared to age before his eyes. It was a good effect combined with his little speech and Harry wondered how the magic worked. Was it an actual ageing spell or a glamour...

"Ah, as I have already explained. I was foolish enough to step out side the school wards and get kidnapped. I was taken to Voldemort's lair where I managed to escape. I couldn't get out to house so I set some rune traps, hoping to buy me some time. They caught me again and dragged me to Voldemort. He was helpful enough to curse me and leave me 'writhing' on the floor for a few minutes so I could draw some more runes. Then we duelled, he cut me, I fell, activated the runes. Voldemort died, the house burnt down, I lived." Harry was quite proud of his cover story, similar things had happened in the past which made it all the more believable. He was well known for his luck, many people had claimed he had only survived seventeen years because of his good fortune.

Cough *Snape* Cough.

"So that covers how I killed him, last time I checked, runes weren't Dark. I wouldn't call people who report on my every movement 'friends'. Did you really think they could hide it from me forever? Professor Snape, as you so named him is a Professor at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, a respected member of the wizarding community. Why would anyone be upset by me talking to him? And Malfoy? Please, even when I hated him, I never thought him evil or any more than borderline Dark." sarcasm and scorn heavily laced Harry's words and he took a breath as he tried to tone it down a little.

"I am afraid of the effect of such negative influences though, my boy. They could easily tip the precarious balance of your magic and send you spiralling into the Dark!" Harry frowned, was it him, or was Dumbledore starting to sound repetitive.

"So, you had Malfoy arrested to remove his influence from me?" Harry hid his smirk of triumph. He had spent a large part of the last few days trying to find out who had ordered Malfoy's arrest. It just didn't seem right for the Ministry to arrest school boys.

"Of course, no matter how powerful we are, we should always try to work within the confines of the law, Harry." Dumbledore dropped into his mildly lecturing tone.

Ideas of using the information straight away flew through Harry's head but he cut them off. He would hold onto it for a little while, he was bound to be able to use it better at some future point. It was a Slytherin enough plan the Malfoy would be happy with that too.

"Well, thank you for the warning, as unnecessary as it may be." Harry said deciding he'd had enough of the conversation and standing to open the door.

"Very well, my boy. I fear I still haven't got through to you though..." Dumbledore was regarding him with a look that almost screamed 'plotting against you'.

"I understand how you feel, Headmaster. I just don't feel the same way." Harry smiled politely again and gestured towards the door. "If you don't mind? I'm somewhat late getting home."

"I'll talk to you again, Harry." Dumbledore's voice was ominous and the twinkle is his eyes worrisome. "You do need to talk about the dark secrets you are holding so close."

"I have no secrets to talk about, thank you. Good night, Headmaster." he closed the door behind Dumbledore, waited long enough not to bump into him again and left himself.

"-can not believe the gall of the old coot! With everything I have done for him! I played spy for him, for years!"

Harry stepped out of the fireplace to hear Snape ranting.

It only took a few minutes more for Harry to work out what had happened.

"Dumbledore fired you? Why?" he was astonished.

"I believe it is an attempt to attack you, Potter. His reasoning was my... lack of patients with students. Apparently I am a terrible teacher and since I no longer need the protection of Hogwarts, now The Dark Lord is gone and my usefulness as a spy has expired, there is no reason for my remaining at the school." Snape looked more than a little vexed and lost.

Harry could understand his feelings. Snape had lived at the castle for half his life. It must feel awful to be kicked out of the place you had called home for so long. Harry felt something similar, Hogwarts had been the first home he had ever known and it was strange to realise he would never return.

He, Malfoy and all the other seventh year students hadn't sat their N.E.W.T.s yet but they wouldn't be taking them at Hogwarts. The exams were supposed to be sat in a weeks time but the Ministry had postponed them for a further two weeks. The wizarding world was too busy celebrating to worry about exams.

"I can't believe he would go that far! As if it's not bad enough that he would have Malfoy arrested! Do you know the interfering old git actually accused me of turning Dark today! I wouldn't mind too much if it were either of you, you both know I visited with Voldemort and killed Pettigrew, but his reasoning is based on me killing Voldemort, which is what he wanted, and being friends with you pair instead of Ron and Hermione." Harry took a deep breath to calm down. His ire with Dumbledore was making his magic surge and crackle around him. The pictures on the walls were starting to rattle.

The fire flared green and Ron's head appeared.

"Oi! Harry! What the hell did you do to Hermione? She's been crying non-stop since she spoke to you earlier. Something about you goin' Dark." Ron ranted as he caught sight of Harry, sneering at the figures of Snape and Malfoy.

Harry wondered if you could hurt someone by throwing magic at them through a fire call. Ron would look quite pretty with a Bluebell Flame crown, hair burning, skin bubbling under the intense heat, the sound of his scream reverberating off the walls...

"I told her I didn't have time to listen to her whine at me. Kind of like you. Fuck off back to Dumbles and report this to him." Harry smirked nastily as he waved at the fire and the connection cut off, but not before Harry saw his face pale then flush and his mouth open, most likely to remark on Harry's reporting comment.

Harry took a slow breath, he was still pissed with Dumbledore but the little exchange with Ron had deflated a lot of his anger.

"So, what would you like to do instead?" Harry asked with curiosity, his magic back under control.

He got himself a drink from the wet bar, kissed Malfoy as he walked passed his chair and took a seat across from where Snape was still pacing.

"I... have no idea." Harry could understand that too, it was the same answer he gave when asked about his plans for the future. He had spent so long thinking only about the war and not expecting to survive that he hadn't thought about the future.

"I can try talking with Scrimgeour, if you want? He could probably get you the job back, or another position somewhere else? At the least I can have him write you a reference. Although, I always got the impression you didn't like teaching." Harry offered.

"I have no grievance with teaching a dedicated and interested student, just the usual bunch of idiots that waltz into my classroom with no appreciation of the subtle art of potions making." Snape sneered in an almost playful tone. "I once thought of opening my own research lab..." Snape trailed off, like he thought he had said too much.

"What would you do? And please don't sneer 'research' or 'make potions' at me." Harry grinned.

"There are several potions I have been experimenting with through the years. I have finished a few of them but my responsibilities never left much time. My improvements to the Wolfsbane potion was reported in Potions Monthly, along with my Cruciatus Relief Draught. There are so many others though! I'm still in the experimental stages of a potion I hope to relieve the side effects of Parkinson's Disease, which as you might not know, is very common through the pure blood society. Interbreeding has riddled most pure blood lines with several hereditary diseases. There is no cure yet but the combination of Flobberworm bile, pixie dust and unicorn hair, in conjunction with a Calming Draught base made with distilled water instead of spring, should control..."

Harry listened as Snape happily talked his way through several potions he still had in the experimental stage. Honestly, Harry didn't understand much of it, potions had never been his strongest subject. He could see the passion Snape held for it shining in his eyes though. His voice was almost dreamy as he explained how he hoped to counter certain effects by this combination or the other, how using one ingredient would affect the effects of the potion.

"I think I just learnt more about potions than I ever did in class." Harry smirked, if Snape had tried teaching like this, Harry was sure he would have been much better at potions. It was more like sitting down for a conversation with The Half-Blood Prince. "So, why not open your own lab?"

"Hmm, I had not given it much consideration in recent years. I have published enough articles recently to allow me to find an investor or partner, I suppose. The true problem would be in finding one who did not wish to dictate what I work on..." Snape trailed off again, this time he appeared to be in thought. Harry guessed he was running through the possibilities in his mind.

"I'll do it." Harry shrugged.

**tbc...**

**So? Is it still good? Please review..? **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"I'll do it." Harry shrugged.

"Pardon? Do what, Potter?" Snape sneered automatically as he snapped out of his thoughts.

"I'll be your partner. I'm not going to have much time though, so apart from giving you the money, you'll need to do it all yourself." Harry stood and got another drink for himself.

He grinned to himself as he poured, was this the life of a pure blood? Spend a day playing in the Ministry, offer large sums of money to people you know and top it all off with a large drink of ridiculously expensive alcohol? It wasn't a bad life really, he could probably get used to it.

"_You_ want to be a partner in a Potions Research Lab?" Snape mocked him lightly.

"Yep. But don't expect me to do any of the work! I'm atrocious at potions, as you well know." Harry grinned.

"Do you know how expensive that would be, Potter?" Malfoy asked from his chair, where he had remained silent since Harry had walked in.

"Not really." Harry shrugged as he continued to smile.

"You're looking at somewhere between a quarter to half a million galleons!" Malfoy cried from his seat.

"I should be able to cover that easily enough." Harry shrugged.

"My father would struggle to find that kind of loose cash at a moments notice! And what do you mean 'should'? Don't you know how much you have?" Draco looked somewhere between shocked and disbelieving.

"I have two pure blood estates to my name and both are wealthy. I haven't had any statements or anything for either and I haven't even seen the Black vaults but I should have enough just in the Potter vaults to cover a lab. What else am I going to spend it on?" Harry shrugged, he felt like that was all he was doing that evening.

"You would spent your fathers inheritance on a lab for me?" Snape asked with a strange tone Harry couldn't understand.

"Well, it's not like it would be a dead end investment. Your potions would soon make a return and I should invest my money somewhere." Harry replied with a frown, trying to work out if he had managed to insult Snape by offering to be his partner. "I'll cover the money side of the business, you get everything else. No point in me trying to order supplies or anything like that. I wouldn't have the first clue and you would complain at the low standards or something." Harry meant the last as a joke and smiled in relief as he saw the strange look melt from Snape's face and be replaced with a twitch of his lips. He had made Snape smile.

"Would you have any preferences for the location or-" Harry cut Snape off by pressing a glass of drink into his hand.

"Nope, it's all yours. I'll visit Gringott's tomorrow and set up a business vault with a base of five hundred thousand galleons. I'll bring you the key... Wait, where are you staying now? I know you normally spent the holidays at Hogwarts. Do you have your own house?"

Harry cringed even as he asked, he expected Snape to explode on him for asking such a personal question.

"My house was attacked a few months ago. It is in a muggle neighbourhood and was fired by mistake." Snape replied very calmly, "I will make arrangements with The Three Broomsticks or The Leaky Cauldron."

"You can stay here. It's not great but there is plenty of room. If you want." Harry smiled even though he expected to be shot down.

"And in return?" Snape asked just as calmly as before.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Harry was confused, Slytherins never reacted as he expected.

"He means, what price is there for staying here?" Malfoy drawled from his chair.

"Price? Why would there be a price?" Harry was still confused.

"Because there is always a price." Snape responded levelly.

"So, I can call you my friend and make you business propositions and offer you large sums of money but I can't offer you a place to stay? Is that a Slytherin thing?" Harry frowned as he tried to work out Snape and Malfoy's reasoning.

"You would call me a friend?" Snape sounded as confused as Harry felt now. He assumed Snape either hadn't heard him call him friend before or had assumed it was in reference to Malfoy only.

"What else would I call you after... everything. If it helps you can think of it as me protecting my new business investment." Harry grinned.

He could understand Snape better now. He hadn't though Harry would call him a friend and therefore couldn't understand why Harry would offer him a place stay.

Harry also guessed Snape hadn't had many people he would call friends through the years. He may be a good man but he wasn't often a nice one. Most people couldn't see passed the acerbic tone of voice and sneer.

"You can stay as long as you like. As I said, there's more than enough room."

Harry let the conversation drop as he saw Snape sit in a chair and seem to mull over everything Harry had said and offered. Malfoy started chattering away about his visit to his Mother and Father. Lucius Malfoy apparently still hated Harry with every once of his being and suspected Harry of having ulterior motives for getting Malfoy out of the holding cells.

He chuckled as he listened to Malfoy complain about his Father.

Malfoy was on the wizarding equivalent of bail, Snape had been sacked but everything was okay.

Life was good.

Harry spent the next day in a whirlwind of activity.

He visited the bank first thing and walked out with not only two new vault keys but statements for both the Black and Potter estates.

It would take him hours to go through the statements, reports and investment portfolios. He planned on asking Malfoy about wizarding accountants. He didn't have the first idea what to do with the huge stack of paperwork he needed to look through.

He then set up a new temporary group within the Ministry to check each employee's history and left arm. He had already been through and removed each person he knew to be corrupt. He had taken great satisfaction as he had Umbridge not only sacked but arrested for child abuse, abuse of power and discrimination against Magical beings.

He had sacked her his first day of working in the Ministry. She was due to stand trial in just over two months time and, Harry smirked at the thought, would remain in Auror custody until then.

Scrimgeour had set an office up only a few doors down from him, with a secretary and a pay cheque of a thousand galleons a week. He didn't need the money, not by a long shot but that didn't mean he didn't like getting it.

After that he spoke with Scrimgeour about Lucius Malfoy. Lucius was still an escaped criminal on the run. Harry was trying to convince Scrimgeour to pardon him too. It would take longer than Malfoy but he knew he would do it.

Harry didn't particularly like Lucius any more than he ever had, that being not at all, but he was Draco's Father and had been almost pleasant when he had shown Harry into Riddle Manor.

Then he had to attend a meeting with what seemed to be every reporter in the wizarding world. It was the second one since he had started working at the Ministry, not that he could tell from the questions they asked. They all sounded the same as at the first conference.

He was just warding his office to leave for the day when he heard screaming erupt from down the corridor.

He looked quickly up and down the corridor. Moving towards the atrium he could only see the hem of royal blue robes before it followed the witch or wizard they belonged to around the corner. In the opposite direction he could see people quickly moving towards him.

He flicked the last of his wards into place as he spun around and raced down the hall towards whatever problem had so many people upset.

He stopped in his tracks and moved to the side as a handful of people ran passed, one bloke shouting about a snake. He made a mental note of the people over-reacting, if any of them were in high positions they would need demoting. People in charge couldn't over-react to anything, their inferiors looked to them for guidance and when the boss freaked out – so did everyone else.

Harry took a deep breath before darting down the corridor again. He hadn't tried speaking in parseltongue since Voldemort had died. Dumbledore had expected the ability to speak to snake to die with him, he had claimed for years that Harry could only manage it because of his connection with Voldemort.

He skidded to a stop outside a door several Auror's were hesitating around.

They jumped out the way as he pushed his way through, before trying to warn him about a snake. Harry stifled the urge to roll his eyes. The people running down the halls screaming at the top of their lungs had kind of clued him into what was happening.

He glanced around the room as he stepped inside. It was a bog standard office, the only difference was the man whimpering from the coils of a huge constrictor.

"_Hello_" Harry hissed gently as he took a step forwards, he didn't want to scare the snake and make it kill it's victim sooner.

"_You speak?_" the snake unwound a few coils so it could raise it's head enough to be at the same level as Harry's chest.

"_Yes, please don't kill him. Why are you here?_" Harry held himself as calmly as he could manage as he watched the snakes tongue flicker out and taste the air.

"_I don't know but he screamed and threw things at me._" Harry stifled the urge to roll his eyes again. What idiot found a giant snake in their office and decided the best thing to do was throw things at it?

"_You're magical, aren't you?_"Harry asked as he looked at the bright gold diamond shaped markings along the snakes back.

"_Yes._"

"_Would you like to go back to where you came from?_"Harry gave a small sigh of relief as the coils slowly started to unwind from the man laying still on the floor.

"_But I came from nothing. Why would I want that?_" Harry allowed an eyebrow to raise in surprise at that answer. He hadn't expected the snake to know.

"_Good point. Umm, you could live with me? Don't suppose you like doxies for dinner, do you?_" Harry asked as he considered what he would feed such a large snake and the new doxie infestation in the drawing room.

Kreacher, Winky and Dobby had all been working to clean up the house but even house elves couldn't clean an entire house like that in a matter of minutes. Harry guessed it would take three or four weeks for them to clean up every single room.

"_I don't know, I have never eaten before._" Harry smirked at the smart Alec comment.

"_Huh, that must be weird, to be an adult but to have never done anything._"

"_I am simply what I am, what is the use in looking back at why I am not or have not._"Harry grinned at the snake logic, the handful he had spoken to through the years had been the same. Live for today and don't worry about the past.

"_So, would you like to come with me? I can take you somewhere else if you would like?_"

"_Is your nest warm and dry?_" Harry's grin widened as he watched the snake's head tilt to one side as it considered the offer.

"_Uh, yeah, it still a mess though..._"

"_I shall go with you._" Harry's grin changed to a smirk as he contemplated the reaction he was giant to get from both Snape and Malfoy when he walked through the door with a giant snake.

He winced a second later though when he realised Snape at least might not react very well at all. He had put up with Nagini for a long time and this snake was of a similar size.

"_Could you promise not to kill the other people in my nest? They can't talk but they won't hurt you._" he thought to ask. He would be quite upset to get home tomorrow and find only the snake with a Snape or Malfoy shaped lump in it's middle.

"_As you wish, speaker._"

Harry let the snake, which had been slowly moving from it place still half coiled around the bloke on the floor, wrap itself around his shoulders. He staggered for a moment under the weight but caught his balance against the side of the desk.

The bloke he had rescued took that as his cue to scramble out of the room. Two of the Auror's waiting at the door took him down the corridor and out of sight, probably to get him checked over by a medi-witch.

The remaining Auror's stayed quiet as they followed behind Harry's slow steps towards to atrium.

"I'm going to take the snake back to my house for now. I'll be back in five minutes." Harry said to the Aurors, being careful to look at one of them and not at the snake.

He got a positive response in reply before he turned to warn the snake about apparition, which he decided was the easier option to flooing.

"Potter? You're late tonig- Why are you wearing a great big snake?" Malfoy blurted as he stepped through the front door.

"It was conjured in the Ministry, don't know who by or why. I had to unwrap him from some bloke. He doesn't want to be banished." Harry sighed as the snake slipped from his shoulders and he was relieved of the burden.

"_This is your nest mate?_" the snake hissed in interest as he flickered his tongue at him.

"_Yes, I suppose you would call him that._" Harry chuckled before turning to look at Malfoy again, just in time to catch the shiver that ran down his spine and the slightly glazed look in his eyes.

"Potter! You can't just leave it here! It's ridiculously oversized! And it's _looking _at me!" Malfoy shuddered and jumped away as the snakes long forked tongue flickered out.

"Jeez! Are you a Slytherin or what? He's just a snake. Yes big but not even poisonous and he's looking at you because we were talking about you." Harry rolled his eyes at Malfoy's dramatics. "He's already promised not to kill you or Snape."

"You're going to just believe him? Would you believe me if I just promised to run off and marry a muggle?" Malfoy was starting to screech and Harry wondered, just for a moment, if it would be worth breaking his decision to stop killing. Surely anything was worth stopping to noise emanating from Malfoy's mouth.

Harry grabbed the edges of his already tattered patients and took a slow breath, fingers lifting to rub circles into his temples which were aching.

"I am a parselmouth, snakes not only talk to me but listen to me too. If I tell them not to do something, unless they have a really good reason not to – and a rumbling tummy is not one, then they won't do it." Harry spoke as calmly and reassuringly as he could manage but guessed he fell short of the mark.

For some reason he was really pissed off and not too sure why. He couldn't help feeling like he had missed something, something he couldn't afford to miss but still couldn't work out what it was.

He spent Malfoy's next rant thinking back over the attack but nothing new sprang to mind.

"He needs a name, you can choose if you like. I need to get back to the Ministry, I shouldn't be too long." Harry cut in when Malfoy paused to draw a breath.

"You're really going to just-"

"Yes, I have to get back to the Ministry. He. Won't. Hurt. You." Harry turned and hissed at the snake for a moment. "I told him I would bring him some dinner back with me, so now you don't need to worry about him eating you."

Harry grinned with his last words, his big, innocent, Gryffindor grin, which left Malfoy spluttering as Harry took advantage and jumped in the floo.

Harry walked back into Grimmauld Place smelling like a thunderstorm as his magic tried to burst out of him as accidental magic.

Snape and Malfoy were in the library with glasses of what looked like scotch.

The huge snake was nowhere to be seen.

"Your latest acquisition made himself scarce not long after your departure. I believe he could feel Draco's unease." Snape smirked from an armchair. "I just so happened to overhear your conversation."

"Wonderful. Did anyone choose a name for him?" Harry asked as he poured himself a drink and took a large sip, letting the alcohol warm through the cold fire flooding his veins.

"Serpens, the constellation of the snake. Why in the name of Merlin did you decide to bring it home? What were you thinking? Not all of us are actually that fond of snakes, despite being Slytherins. Nagini, for example, didn't give me WARM FUZZY FEELINGS!"

Harry blinked at the sudden outburst from Malfoy.

He knew Malfoy hadn't been happy with him for bringing the snake home but he hadn't expected the tirade he had just been put through.

"I was thinking I needed to stop it killing someone and that it wasn't fair to just essentially kill it for having the audacity to exist!" Harry sneered coldly back. This was the last thing he needed after his second trip to the Ministry that day.

"Was anything discovered about the identity of the person responsible for the snake?" Snape cut in casually with a tone that highly suggested his doubt about the Ministry being able to find it's own arse with both hands, let alone a single intruder.

"Nah, they're still bloody useless. I need to hire some decent people, the current staff... Well, never mind that for now. The only thing we have to go off is the registration book and there were more than fifty people who entered or left in the hour surrounding the attack. They could even have done it hours before, we have no reason to suspect that Thompson, the bloke who was attacked, was the intended target, no way to find out who was or why." Harry sighed and slumped back, he had spent the last two hours going over and over this. "I miss being at school, life was easier then. People who pissed me off just died."

"Yes, yes. Your life is very hard and very sad." Snape snarked sarcastically back at him, "If you have quite finished with your pity party..? Wonderful. Now perhaps we can talk without it intruding."

"Who was on the list of people?" Malfoy was still pouting but Harry knew it was more for appearances sake now rather than holding any real emotion.

"Let's see; Ciceron Harkiss, Mundungus Fletcher, Octavius Pepper, Hestia Jones, Bartholomew Higgs, Elphias Doge, Daisy Hookum, Sally-Anne Perks, Grizel Hurtz, I can't remember them all but Dumbledore was there as well." Harry used his hand not occupied with holding his glass to rub at his tired eyes.

"There are a quite a few Order members in that list." Snape commented.

"Yeah, I noticed that too. Dumbledore might think I'm going Dark and evil but he wouldn't hurt other people to get to me, surely." Harry replied tiredly.

Dumbledore might not like him but apart from thinking he was going Dark, having his friends spy on him, distrusting him for killing Voldemort, never telling him the full truth... Okay, his point was he had no reason to dislike Dumbledore but now he was thinking about it, he had more reason to dislike him than like him.

And if he could think that way, so could Dumbledore. Perhaps Dumbledore had a list a thousand points long on the reasons for hating Harry. He had no way of telling one way or the other but that meant it was possible that Dumbledore was behind the attack. It was even possible that it was Harry he was aiming for. But why would you send a snake to kill a parseltongue?

**tbc...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"Harry! Uhn... Oh, more... please..."

Harry smirked as he bent Malfoy over the back of the sofa a little more. The slight change of angle caused Malfoy to moan louder as Harry groaned at the delightful sensation around his cock.

They were slowly pushing the sofa along with each thrust but apart from to step forward, Harry paid it no attention.

Snape was out lab hunting, so they had the house to themselves for a few hours and Harry was determined to enjoy it.

The empty house and the sound of his first name on Malfoy's lips. He only heard it whilst they were in the middle of something intimate, which made the sound all he sweeter.

"Bloody hell!"

"Eep!"

Harry blinked up at the sounds emanating from his fireplace, before grinning at the two red faces there without slowing down the speed of his thrusts.

"Oh, Harry! Harder! Merlin, you feel so good! So big and hard! More, More MORE!" Malfoy screamed.

"Hey guys." Harry called to the fireplace cheerfully as he added a wicked twist to the end of his thrusts, making Malfoy writhe and cry out louder still. "What's up?"

The sofa slid a little closer to the fire.

"I- I- That is, umm... Could you stop that?" Hermione tried to say as Ron disappeared from the flames in a cloud of cursing.

"No. Malfoy would kill me if I stopped now." Harry grinned, speaking like he was taking an innocent walk in the park.

"Fuck off, Granger. We're busy!" Malfoy exclaimed before it tapered off into another moan.

"I- I'll come back... later." Hermione squeaked even as she stared at the sight in front of her.

"Sure thing, we're likely to be busy for a while though." Harry called distractedly as he curved his body over the lithe back underneath him and sucked a small red mark onto the graceful neck.

He waved a hand at the fire and saw it cut off before Malfoy burst into peals of laughter.

"Merlin! Could you have sounded any less like you were in the middle of fucking me raw?" Harry grinned down at the blond.

"Anything to make you smile, _Draco._" Malfoy gasped as Harry reached a hand around to grasp his ignored cock and stroked it gently in time with his thrusts.

The renewed groans sounded like music to Harry and he happily let himself get carried away and lost in the tune of their copulation.

Harry groaned as he watched the purple with silver spots memo fly in through his door.

These memos were a brand new colour and only ever arrived at his door.

They had been designed to alert him to another snake attack as the inter office memos were the quickest way to get messages around the Ministry. They had been coloured uniquely so that he would know they were important the moment they flew in his door.

He wasn't sure why they had chosen the colours they had but it was an improvement on the one time they sent him an ordinary white memo. He had ignored it for a full ten minutes before an Auror came running to find him. He had then found the entire third floor in an uproar, not surprising considering the Runespoor who was in foul temper from having someone step on her tail.

Since the first snake, there had been at least one released in the Ministry building each day. Grimmauld Place was quickly filling up with snakes and Malfoy was complaining more each day.

Apparently, being asked to live in a snake infested cesspit was just too much. Thankfully, a gift and several hours in bed each night bought his forgiveness but did nothing for Harry's energy levels, not that he was complaining.

He still wasn't sure how Malfoy had actually gone from boy he decided not to kill to lover but he did know he was more than a little attached to him.

He was going to have more grovelling to do tonight if the purple and silver memo was any indication. In the last eight days he had now taken nine snakes home, today's would be ten if it didn't want to be banished.

With any luck, Ron or Hermione would fire call again as they had been doing each day. The calls were all the same. Where are you? What are you doing? Why do you hate us? Why do you hate Dumbledore? You're acting strange. What happened to the Harry I met on the train?

The calls were getting to be annoying and he cut them off after just a few seconds. Truth be told, the more they called, the more Harry wanted to arrange for them to have an 'accident' like he had for the Slytherin's, he did enjoy shooting insults at them as he cut them off though and Malfoy thought they were hilarious, which offered an easy end to the moaning.

Personally, Harry didn't mind the snakes, they generally had amusing stories and an interesting way of looking at the world. And snake logic – talk about thinking yourself into knots.

No, the only part that was really annoying him was the rumours that had sprung up. They hadn't interested him to begin with, whispers in corners, silence as he entered a room, glances from the corners of eyes, that sort of thing.

Then they were appearing in The Daily Prophet, that was when he started getting annoyed.

They had quickly passed once his secretary, who knew where he was at any given moment while in the Ministry and therefore knew he was innocent, had made a passing comment to a big mouthed friend about Harry getting into trouble at home with all the snakes.

The Ministry staff had soon stopped spreading the rumours, apparently his home problems exonerated him better than Veritaserum would have and the looks of fear and suspicion quickly changed to sympathy.

The Daily Prophet had been having a field day since they first caught wind of the rumours and were now printing articles on The Evil Within The Ministry – Harry Potter, Devious Dark Lord or Simple Sadist.

Harry snort at the thought of it, it was absurd. If he was a Dark Lord, he would have better plots than releasing a few snakes randomly in the Ministry. He would be taking over and killing anyone who stood in his way.

And if he was just a sadist, wouldn't he make sure he was around to witness his victims suffer? After all, a sadist was someone who took pleasure in causing another pain. There hadn't even been anyone hurt yet, except the first guy who got a little squished.

The big mouthed friend of his secretary sorted them out too though. She had mentioned to a few friends of her own that she thought it was 'disgraceful to be treating the man who saved us all so abominably, especially when he's still trying to keep us safe by cleaning up the Ministry!'.

The Daily Prophet quickly stopped printing the rumours about him after being inundated by letters from angry wives and husbands who had been badgered into by said angry wives.

On the upside, Harry thought he knew who was responsible for releasing the snakes. The trap was set for tomorrow.

He caught the memo as it zipped overhead.

_Ashwinder – Head Auror's office._

Harry dropped the parchment without another thought and ran out the door, Ashwinders were far from sociable creatures. They were born from magical fires, lived just long enough to lay fiery hot eggs and produced a magical venom with effects similar to Fiendfyre.

He startled several people as he burst out of his office but ignored their shrieks of surprise. He swore under his breath as he waited for the lift and cursed whomever it was that had decided stairs were unnecessary just because there was a lift.

The doors finally pinged open and Harry waited impatiently for it to empty. He hot the button for the second floor the moment he stepped in glared as several people made to step in after him. He didn't have time to wait for them all to file in.

He raced out of the lift as soon as the doors were open wide enough for him to squeeze out and down the corridor. His eyes scanned the floor with each step he took, the floor seemed to be deserted and Harry thanked any listening deity for Auror sensibility.

The Aurors knew there wasn't anything they could do to a snake born from magical fire, there wasn't a single spell that could be used against them and only a handful of spells that could be used to freeze the eggs.

The best thing they could have done was evacuate the floor.

Harry opened the office door gingerly, the last thing he wanted was to be bitten by a snake waiting to escape once the door was open.

As he pushed it open wider he could see the snake, it was curled up in what looked like it had once been a jumper. Now it wasn't much more than threads and ash.

The snake hissed a warning to him as he stepped closer but relaxed visibly once Harry replied in parseltongue.

"_I didn't realise there was a speaker left in the world. We knew of the Other but never spoke to him or his twisted-_" the Ashwinder said in a trembling hiss and Harry realised she was close to death now.

Ashwinders always had a short life span but she must have been released a few hours ago to be so close to death already. There was a word on the end of her sentence but Harry couldn't understand it exactly, there was more impression than meaning in the word.

The impression was of something foul and rotting, traitorous, dirty, slimy, unnatural.

"_Do you know who called you?_" Harry hissed back as he slowly lowered himself to sit on the floor a little way from the dying snake.

It seemed like the least he could do, to sit with her, talk to her as she passed away. Innocent beings, no matter how potentially deadly, should not have to die alone.

"_Of course. It was a dumb human, like most of your kind. Why did your people never learn to talk?_" she was getting weaker by the second as Harry watched. Already her head was lowering to rest on her coils, unable to hold it up any longer.

"_It's a special kind of magic for us._" Harry smiled at her, she had a surprisingly sweet voice.

"_Will you watch over my eggs, speaker?_" her voice trailed away with the last word and her body fell still.

"_I will._" Harry replied softly and watched her tongue flicker for the last time.

Her body changed from slate grey to a bight orangey red for one long moment and Harry watched transfixed as her body started to crumble away, turned into the ash she was named for.

Harry blinked at the five glowing red eggs her body left behind what was he supposed to do with them and what would the snakes inside be like? They were almost unknown, the few people who had tried to breed them had all died in the first day after they hatched and the snakes had disappeared. He hadn't heard of a parselmouth who had tried, they seemed to prefer basilisks in general.

He transfigured a quill on the desk into a steel box, a sheet of parchment became a second slightly larger box and a paper clip a third.

He levitated the eggs carefully into the smallest box and piled the with hot embers out of the fireplace and then wrapped the box in a heating charm. The placed it in the second box with a cushioning charm and then did the same with the third. He wrapped a gentle cooling charm carefully around the outside of the third and largest box, he only wanted it to cool the metal of the box and not all the way through it like cooling charms often did.

He levitated the box in front of him to the lift and got out in the atrium. He still expected the box to be too hot to touch but hoped it would be cool enough to to give any serious burns if someone should knock into it.

The atrium was suspiciously empty but as Harry looked around he caught sight of an Auror waiting well out of the way. They must have cleared the room for him. This was the first time they had thought to do it but he was grateful none the less.

With a deep breath, Harry wrapped several layers of cooling charms around Harry's hands before grabbing the box and apparating as quickly as he could manage.

He dropped the box the moment he landed on the top step of Grimmauld Place and let a levitation spell catch it before it could fall far.

His hands were already starting to blister and Harry swore vehemently as he pushed the front door open.

He took the box through to the drawing room and carefully reopened the box and levitated the eggs out and into the fire burning there. He would need to warn the house elves they were there so they didn't banish them with the ashes, burn themselves or forget to keep the fire burning.

He sighed in relief as when he didn't run into Malfoy and another one of his hissy fits about the snake population in the house or Snape complaining about Malfoy's latest hissy fit.

The relief quickly faded into disappointment though, when he realised that he now had to return to the Ministry and complete the snake attack paperwork. It was new, just like the purple memos.

Harry bounced impatiently around his office.

He had dressed in the formal transfigured robes again and they flared with each turn he made.

His secretary had already scolded him twice about wearing his feet away and holes in the carpet. He hadn't paid much attention but she didn't seem to mind, just raised an eyebrow at him and offered him a cup of tea.

Both cups had helped considerably, he suspected a Calming Draught slipped in, but didn't last more than half an hour. The lack of further offers confirmed his suspicion as Calming Draughts had to be carefully medicated, they were addictive and easy to overdose on, causing a lack of connection to the world. People who overdosed on Calming Draughts often found themselves loosing track of the time or date, strong emotions were heavily suppressed and day-to-day activities like housework, paying bills or attending their job were easily forgotten about or thought about in the context of 'I'll do it in just a minute...'.

Harry sighed and shook his head as he realised he was resorting to listing the effects of a Calming Draught just to keep himself in his office.

He let his mind wander over the plan once more something he had been forced to stop doing. He had driven his secretary crazy for more than an hour yammering on about 'what if this or that goes wrong?'

All of the people suspected as being the most likely to have released the snakes were due to visit the Ministry. They had been short listed by comparing the visitors on the days of the previous attacks and would be discretely followed by Aurors hand picked by the Head of their department.

Ministry personnel had been ruled out for the time being, if the perpetrator wasn't caught today then they too would be followed. Gawain Robards, Head of the Auror department, had spent the last week meeting with Harry. He didn't like people mucking around in the Ministry and was determined not to let these attacks keep happening under his nose.

Harry's secretary had very patiently sat and listened to him, or pretended to very convincingly, then pointed out that 'what ifs' were pointless as she gave him the first cup of doctored tea.. They left far too many possibilities open, 'what if a new Dark Lord sprang up in the next ten minutes?' or 'What if the world exploded suddenly?' where would that leave his plan? If he kept concentrating on 'what if' he would miss 'what is'.

Harry had sighed and nodded. He sat at his desk and pulled some papers in front of him for a full fifteen minutes before jumping up and pacing again. She had put up with it for a little while, until he started muttering about 'what if' again. That was when he was handed the second cup of tea.

He was just starting a new lap of his office when his purple memo flew in.

Harry smirked as he read the short note and bounded out of the office.

Dumbledore was sat calmly on a chair in front of the Head Auror's desk surrounded by no less than six Aurors. Ron and Hermione were stood just to one side of him and Harry blinked when he caught sight of them, the memo hadn't mentioned anyone else.

"Lord Potter-Black, thank you for you quick response." Gawain Robards said formally and made a show about offering Harry a seat and offering him refreshments, all the while ignoring Dumbledore and his two lackeys.

Harry caught the smirk hiding in his eyes and happily played along with the game.

"You're more than welcome, Head Auror Robards. I'm sure you must have heard how highly I value the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I am at your service." Harry smiled back with his best polite and respectful voice.

"Please, Lord Potter-Black, call me Gawain. We are colleagues now." Gawain smiled back and offered, even though they had been on a first name basis since Harry had started at the Ministry.

"In which case Gawain, please call me Harry." he stifled a laugh and a smirk when he noticed noticed the other Aurors hiding smirks of their own and Dumbledore mouthing words but silently under the effects of a silencing charm. "Has your detainee been giving you problems Gawain?"

"Unfortunately. He seems to be under the misguided belief that you have turned Dark and wish to emulate The Dark Lord Voldemort." Gawain shook his head sadly, "He was detained after being seen releasing a snake in an office on the third floor."

"How upsetting to find our glorious Leader of the Light has lost his way. The path of Light is harder to follow than that of the Dark but that is why we must persevere. The right choices are rarely the easy choices and it would seem that our esteemed Headmaster has fallen for the lure of an easier path." Harry couldn't help the twitch in his lips as he suppressed a huge grin at turning Dumbledore's own words against him.

**tbc...**

**Sorry guys! I fucked up with that post :S**

**My net is being touchy at the moment, so I didn't have chance to check what I posted.**

**This is the second to last chappie of this part of my Below Temperature Series. There will be more to come but I need to write them first, I have currently got 34 other WIPs running at the moment, although I admit I probably won't end up posting half of them, I just enjoy writing them!**

**Duana xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"-it would seem that our esteemed Headmaster has fallen for the lure of an easier path." Harry couldn't help the twitch in his lips as he suppressed a huge grin at turning Dumbledore's own words against him.

"I fear you are right but we shall leave the judging up to the Wizengamot when he goes to trial." Gawain nodded in agreement.

"I feel I must also warn you that he orchestrated young Lord Malfoy's arrest too. I had planned on staying silent on the matter," that was a lie, he had been holding onto it for just such a moment, a moment when it could be used to best effect, "I had thought that perhaps it had just been a mistake on his part, until he happily admitted it to me. I should have reported it at the time but..." Harry sighed sadly, "I heard fantastical tales of him from the moment I re-entered the wizarding world. It still seemed more likely that he was truly acting in the best interests of our world. Now with this... I feel I must bring it to light, if both that and this new attack by snakes were acts of fully informed maliciousness..."

Harry let his words trail off and glanced at Dumbledore from the corner of his eye. The old man was still trying to talk through the silencing charm.

"Thank you for bringing this to light, Lord Potter-Black. I know it must have been hard to speak out against a man who has guided us all for so long." Gawain said formally and sympathetically.

"Professor Snape, the former Potions Master of Hogwarts may also wish to press charges for unlawful dismissal from his position at the school. It is still against the law to sack someone because of their personality, isn't it?" Harry could feel a smirk trying to break free as he watched Ron's face from the corner of his eye. Ron was bright red already and would have broken in if not for Hermione's elbow that connect with his ribs every few seconds.

"This is bullshit!" Ron burst out with. "Dumbledore is nothing but a good man! And he has no right to the title of Lord Black! That should have been mine!"

Ron finished with a finger pointing accusingly at Harry.

"Did you wish to file a complaint of wrongful inheritance, Mr Weasley?" Gawain asked in a sickly sweet tone that should have sent warning bells ringing for anyone it was aimed at.

Ron, like the moron he had always been but even more so recently, completely ignored the signs of danger.

"Yes! He stole what was rightfully mine!" Ron snarled at Harry.

Gawain gestured to one of the Aurors and they slipped out quietly.

"I feel I should a problem since I'm here too, Auror Robards." Hermione pipped up with.

"And you would be, Miss?" Gawain asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hermione Granger, sir. Harry Potter is unstable and dangerous. I believe you should remove him from his current position in the Ministry and have him sent to St. Mungo's." Hermione said in her best Percy Weasley impression.

"That's a serious accusation to make Miss Granger. Do you have any solid facts and proof or just person belief?" Harry calmly sipped his tea as he caught a slight note of contempt in Gawain's voice. Not enough to be noticed by most people but Harry had spent several hours talking with the Head Auror since he had taken a position in the Ministry.

"I have solid proof in his medical folder at Hogwarts, sir. Madam Pomfrey performed the tests herself." Hermione replied grimly.

"How did you come across Lord Potter-Black's confidential medical file, Miss Granger?" Gawain asked without any of the emphasis Harry could tell he wanted to put on the word 'confidential'.

"Oh, that was easy. I'm studying medical magic from Madam Pomfrey and it wasn't hard to sneak a look at his folder, sir. Madam Pomfrey performed both the Core Potential spell and the Magical Purity Charm. Harry's Purity Charm reported several anomalies from how Dark his magic is and his Core Potential Spell was off the chart. In short, sir, Harry Potter has both the potential and the ability to destroy most of Great Briton in less time than it take to tie your laces."

Gawain nodded to an Auror stood just behind Hermione.

She shrieked as she felt ropes bind her wrists behind her back.

"Hermione Granger, you are under arrest for the release of private and confidential medical information, misuse of private and confidential information, attempted wrongful arrest and for breaking the vows you made before beginning your study of medical magic. You will be held in a Ministry holding cell until the time of your trial, at which time, should you be found guilty by the members of the Wizengamot, you shall be transferred to Azkaban prison to serve the remainder of your sentence. Should you be found innocent you shall be compensated for your time spent in remand at a rate set by the Wizengamot at your trial." he nodded once more and the Auror dragged Hermione away.

Ron was pale and now starting to flush a deep angry red. He opened his mouth and Harry was just settling in to see him arrested in a similar manner to Hermione, when he was saved by the first Auror coming back in through the door.

"Here you go, Mr Weasley. If you'll just fill out all twenty five pages in triplicate, we'll deal with your case with the utmost urgency. We take inheritance theft very seriously here in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." the Auror smiled helpfully as he dropped a huge stack of paper in Ron's arms.

"Yes, very serious business." Gawain repeated in his Head Auror voice.

Harry watched from the corner of his eye as Ron was herded out of the office and into the first empty cubical. The first Auror stood over him and Harry could here the occasional 'helpful' hint being offered.

"Your name goes on that line... Sex means gender not how often you get off with your girlfriend... D.O.B. Stands for date of birth not dirty old bastard, you wouldn't believe some of the answers we get on these forms..."

Harry stifled another grin and made a mental note to recommend that Auror to Scrimgeour for dealing with troublesome visitors to the Ministry.

Gawain was still waffling on about an embarrassing incident a couple of years back with a case of stolen inheritance.

Harry nodded and made polite noises of interest at the right moments and waited for the end of the story. Gawain managed to drag it out for more than half an hour, Harry was more than a little impressed that anyone could make any story take that long in the telling.

"Your Auror over there is a good man. What's his name?" Harry finally asked once Gawain finished.

"Trentanam, Phil Trentanam. One of my best, been with us for a decade next month." Gawain smiled proudly.

"You would be sad to lose him to another department then? We do need good, honest men and there seems to be a short supply of them at the moment." Harry sighed, he was sacking more people than he could replace and they were missing two Head of Departments.

"Guess that would depend on how Phil felt about it and where he was going. I would be more than disappointed to lose him but I wouldn't hold him back from a better position. He's not the kind of man to harbour any kind of ambition but he easily carries the weight of any responsibilities he picks up." Gawain sounded as disappointed as he claimed but pride and the desire to see one of his best men succeed out weighed it.

"The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and the Department of Magical Transportation both need new Heads. Would you recommend him for either?" Harry asked as he watched Dumbledore's face twitch.

He really didn't look like he appreciated being left bound and silenced in a chair and then ignored.

"He'd do well with either but I think he would enjoy our Magic Creatures department more. They see a bit more action, liaising with the various people and beings who would fall under his control and protection." Gawain was smiling again now, apparently happy to lose him to another department if he was going to be the Head of it.

They chatted easily for the remainder of the wait. Gawain recommended a few other Aurors for transfer to departments in desperate need of honest staff and Harry agreed to talk to them.

"Perhaps we could try temporary relocation? Give them a set length of time? You can't loose all your best Aurors in one fell swoop. Maybe keep them in reserve for if you need them?" Harry suggested, thinking out loud.

"That'll help with some of the resentment floating around about your more obscure promotions. Like the guy you made Chief Assistant to the Head of the department for International Magical Cooperation." Gawain sighed with mock confusion, he knew as well as Harry did why the bloke had been promoted, "One day he was a nobody, bottom of the chain in a dead end job filing papers, the next, boom, he's got his own office and a score of people waiting to file his papers for him."

"Yes but a good, honest man. The kind the Ministry should be rewarding not ignoring. Rumours had it that he was the only person down in filing to refuse a bribe and that he refused every single one for _three_ decades. It only took a little digging to find the paperwork he filed personally, listing each offered bribe, name of the offender, dates and transcribed conversations." Harry chuckled, the man had been one of the best finds he could have hoped for. He hadn't even reported the bribes to his superior, knowing he would have been told to accept the bribe.

"Honest Ministry personnel, whatever next." Gawain chuckled as Ron finally walked back through the door. "Ah, Mr Weasley. Finished with your forms in triplicate? Good good, wouldn't want you to have to start all over again just because you missed one question."

Gawain skimmed over the forms and Harry saw his eyes widen is disbelief about something.

"Mr Weasley, are you aware that in answer to question forty eight; Please list all the reasons you believe your inheritance has been stolen by another, you have answered; Because I'm a Weasley and related to the Black family on both my mother and father's side unlike Harry Potter, I'm a pure blood unlike Harry Potter, I'm already poor unlike Harry Potter, I have never used Dark magic unlike Harry Potter, I have never killed a man unlike Harry Potter, I've never dumped my best mate's sister unlike Harry Potter... and that's only part of it."

Harry couldn't help it, he felt an irrepressible laugh claw it's way up his throat and erupt as a snort of laughter when he tried to contain it.

"You see? That's right! It should have been mine! I'm a better man than Harry Potter! I'm even better looking! The Black inheritance should have been mine!" his snort turned into full blown laughter at that. Since when did appearance have any effect on inheritance? And better looking..?

"Are you aware that of all your answers, only one comes close to having a chance at standing up in court. Not that it would, any inheritance would go to your mother or father first and then to one of your five older brothers. You are the second youngest member of your family.

"Not that it would ever even get there, I was the Auror in charge of dealing with Lord Potter-Black's inheritance paperwork. Caused us quite a problem, I can tell you. Pure blood inheritance law demands that it only be passed down through the males of the line. Well, all the direct male descendants are now dead, that leaves a small problem. There were three possible heirs left, Arthur Weasley, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Arthur Weasley's mother was disowned and as such, so was he. Draco Malfoy is a generation younger than Harry Potter, which leaves Harry as the rightful heir even without it being left to him by Will and Last Testament, the only loophole in the pure blood Inheritance Law." Gawain said with no small amount of exasperation. "All of this you have had more than ample opportunity to learn, if you didn't to begin with, just by looking at your family tree."

"Ronald Weasley, you are under arrest for attempted inheritance theft and knowingly wasting the time of a trained Auror and Head of Department. You will be held in a Ministry holding cell until the time of your trial, at which time, should you be found guilty by the members of the Wizengamot, you shall be transferred to Azkaban prison to serve the remainder of your sentence. Should you be found innocent you shall be compensated for your time spent in remand at a rate set by the Wizengamot at your trial." Phil Trentanam said as he shot a binding spell at Ron's wrists.

Ron screamed and ranted as he was dragged away with Dumbledore being taken along with him.

"You're a fucking tight arsed bastard, Potter!" Ron shouted.

"Wait!" Harry called to Trentanam before turning to address Ron, "Do you want to know the true meaning of irony, Ron? Irony would be that if you hadn't been taking money off Dumbledore to spy on me and had just been my mate, you basically would have that inheritance, I would have share my last knut with you. Hell, I would have signed it all over to you. It's only money and all the money in the world can't buy friendship. I hope your life turns out well."

"You don't like Dumbledore much, do you?" Harry grinned as he shut the door in Ron's gaping face. Gawain had purposely left the old man stewing under a silencing spell while he had to watch helplessly as his two little minions got themselves arrested.

"I don't like people mucking around in my Ministry. And between the three of them they were trying it in five different ways. Medical spells used to check on the recovery of a drained magical core have no place outside of a medical folder, using snakes to discredit you and attack other Ministry personnel, spreading disrupting rumours and the most shameful attempt at stealing your heritage and inheritance." Gawain's voice was thick with disgust. "All three will be tried under Veritaserum and pensive testimony. I'll make sure the trials are pushed forwards, the sooner they're over and done with the better."

"Good, I really have been putting up with them for too long. I'll send someone over to speak with Minerva McGonagall. She'll be Headmistress now." Harry grinned as he stood up and offered a hand to shake.

"It's been a pleasure, Lord Potter-Black."

Harry walked out of the courtroom with Malfoy at his side and Snape two steps behind, watching each person they passed.

Malfoy's trial had been quick and efficient.

Scrimgeour had promised to rush the paperwork through and have the date set for just a month after his first meeting with Harry after Voldemort, or AV as it was becoming known.

The month had passed by in what felt like the amount of time it took to blink.

The Ministry was almost clear of it's more undesirable elements, there were still a few unscrupulous people hidden away but Harry was determined to get them.

Dumbledore, Hermione and Ron all stood to face trial for their own crimes, neatly removing them from Harry's hair, in the coming months.

He had started a Potions Lab with Snape.

Malfoy and Snape both lived with him now.

He had started the ball rolling on clearing Lucius Malfoy's name and had every hope of being done with it by the end of next year. It wasn't as soon as he would like, Malfoy the younger never stopped whinging about Malfoy the older moaning over being stuck in his manor, but each little step of progress he made was more than rewarded by gratuitous amounts of sex.

And he now had angry housewives up and down the country fighting for him.

Life was good.

"Mr Potter!"

The crowd he had been expecting was waiting in the Ministry Atrium and their cameras started flashing the moment he came into view.

"Mr Potter! Mr Potter! How do you feel now that your very unexpected boyfriend has been cleared?" Harry smiled as he gave a firm, strong answer.

"Mr Potter! What are your thoughts on Minister Scrimgeour?" Harry smiled and made a cheerful, positive reply about working together and a brighter future.

"Mr Potter! How do you feel about accusations against Albus Dumbledore, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, your Headmaster and best friends?"

"I am rather disappointed, of course and I feel a little betrayed that people I respected and listened to would do such awful things but I have full belief that our Wizengamot will judge them fairly and see justice carried out." Harry smiled sadly this time.

It was true enough. He was disappointed in them and he did feel betrayed, just not for the accusations. His hurt was an older one but he could smirk about it all now.

He had come out the victor. Not just over Voldemort but them too.

Hermione was expected to lose the right to ever train or work as a healer and would possibly face up to five years in Azkaban.

Ron was facing having half his life-time earnings automatically transferred to Harry's account and before that up to fifteen years in Azkaban.

Dumbledore was facing a minimum of fifty years in Azkaban if found guilty. Aside from being charged with trying to frame Harry and orchestrating Malfoy's arrest, each person who had been threatened by finding one of the snakes had pressed charges of their own.

Harry answered a few more questions, arranging his face to match the seriousness or joviality of each before slipping away and leaving Scrimgeour to smile his own answers.

They found a fireplace to floo from as the crowd was distracted by Aurors and Scrimgeour.

Harry smiled as he poured himself a glass of ridiculously expensive alcohol and then let Malfoy stretch out on the sofa next to him, head in his lap.

Now all he needed to do was get rid of Scrimgeour, useful as he had been and replace him with Luna. Minister Lovegood. It had a nice ring.

He had a meeting with Neville to talk about Harry becoming his partner in a nursery.

And Malfoy was talking about several things he thought Harry should buy.

As his list turned into the erotic, Snape rolled his eyes and strode out the room, tossing a comment about 'going to the new lab' over his shoulder.

Harry grinned as he watched the surly Potions Master walk out before turning back to Malfoy and showing him they didn't need a 'seven speed vibrating, three pulse mode' anything.

Life was good.

**End**


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